Telephone system



June 16,1925.

. W. F'. DAVIDSON 'mLEgHoNE SYSTEM Filed Aug. e', 1924 VENTOR. Daz/065012 v wizziamf A TTORNEY Patented June 16, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

TELEPHONE SYSTEM.

Application aiea August e, 1924. serial No. 730,426.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, VILLIAM F. DAVIDSON, a citizen of the United Statea'res'ding at St. Paul, in the county ot Ramsey and State ot Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Telephone Systems, ot which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to a telephone system tor otlice buildings.

In a great many otv the large` o'liice buildings there are tenants who, owing to the nature oi their business or profession, are frequently absent from their oilices during business hours, and such oitices are lett, during such time, without an occupant to answer the telephone. v IVhen this occurs, and a customer or client calls an oiiice by telephone and receives no answer, he may take his business elsewhere, thereby entailing a possible loss to the tenant.

An object ot the present invention is to route calls coming to an oiiice, when a tenant thereof` is absent, to an outlet in a central switch board, which outlet shall be designated by the tenants name or oiiice number, so that an operator ot the central switch board may answer the call as in the name ot the ottico ot the tenant. Thus, continuous telephone service is assured throughout the business day whether the tenant is in his otlice or not. Calls so received may be noted on a suitable memorandum and tiled in a pigeon hole, or otherwise, in a manner to be available to the tenant when he returns to the building.

In the accompanying drawing, a schematic representation vis shown ot a telephone system made in accordance with the present invention.

Referring to the drawing, Aand B represent subscribers telephone sets located in different oitices in an oiiicev building. Incoming lines C lead to subscribers sets in said building. Two-way switches are indicated at l. lhen a switch is in the position shown in the A set, an incoming call would be routed directly to the subscribers set in his ottlce and might be answered by the tenant ot' said office. When the switch is thrown to the position shown in the B set, such an incoming call would be routed directly to a central switch board 2 and would cause indicia 6, which mayl be an electric lamp adjacent a jack 3 in the switch board to be operated to indicate to an operator thereof that a call was awaiting` on that line. The operator would note by means ot a designation, not shown, adjacent thereto and previously referred to herein, that the jack 5l is connected to a line through the oflice in which subscribers set B is installed. The operator might then connect her set et by means ot a plug 5 to the jack 3, and answer as in the name of the otiice of the tenant. The operator `might take any message or give any necessary information to the calling party and thereby render a beneiicial service to the tenants in the building` throughout the day.

Other suliiscribers sets in the ottices in the same building are indicated as being connected to the central board 2 in the same manner as sets A and B, and each ot these offices is provided with apparatus similar to that ot said sets and are designed to -function in a similar manner.

What I claim is:

An oiiice building telephone service system, comprising an incoming telephone line, a telephone set connected thereto in a tenants. ottico, a line from said telephone set to an outlet in a central switchboard, identi- 'tying means adjacent said outlet, and switch means operable from said tenants oilice to route an incoming call directly to the central switchboard, or to the telephone set in `the otiice of the tenant, at will.

In testimony whereof I aix my signature.

IVILLIAM F. DAVIDSON. 

